Who is the new bogeyman?

From European Voice's Entre-Nous column

7/16/08, 5:00 PM CET

Updated 4/23/14, 8:47 PM CET

EU unionists find and name their man.

A new bogeyman for the staff unions in the EU institutions is emerging. The Renouveau et Démocratie (R&D) union has written to European Commission President José Manuel Barroso and Siim Kallas, the commissioner for administrative affairs, complaining about “another major attack on the consistency, dignity and efficiency of the European civil service”. R&D rejects such controversial ideas as increasing staff mobility, decentralising services and increasing staff with technical knowledge. Catherine Day, the Commission secretary-general, was sufficiently provoked to write to all staff saying there was no item on human resources on the Commission’s agenda in July. But she did confirm that a group of directors-general had been “discussing ideas” about the staff resources challenges of the coming years and that the discussion would continue after the summer break. The report is being prepared by Jörgen Holmquist, the Commission’s director-general of internal market, Robert Verrue, director-general of taxation and customs, and Robert Madelin, director-general of health and consumer protection, but the staff unions have taken to referring to the blueprint as “the Holmquist report”, suggesting that the Swede is being lined up to take the rap when everything goes wrong. Shades, perhaps, of the Williamson report of 1998.